


Strange Love

by nikswlw



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Light Angst, Meleven, as usual this is really gay, i'm sorry I just love this ship, jk im not sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-24
Updated: 2017-11-24
Packaged: 2019-02-06 08:55:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12814053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nikswlw/pseuds/nikswlw
Summary: The second Eleven laid eyes on Maxine Mayfield, she knew she hated her.





	Strange Love

**Author's Note:**

> This is like the third pic I've written this week so it's probably rushed but STILL, please enjoy (kudos and comments are appreciated)

The second Eleven laid eyes on Max Mayfield she knew that she hated her. Watching her skate circles around Mike Wheeler, who she thought she truly loved made her want to hurl. Instead she hurled the girl from her skateboard, smiling slightly as she hit the floor in front of Mike. It certainly felt nice but it didn’t stop her feelings of hatred for the girl. Why she hated her, Eleven didn’t know, but she knew it had something to do with how Mike was talking to her. The way he used to talk to Eleven.

She forgot about the girl for a while. Her mind was filled with more important things, her new sister, powers, and most importantly her mom, who took up most of the space in El’s subconscious.

But then she returned and though hugging Mike for the first time in 353 days made her want to curl up with him and never let go, her eyes were drawn to the intimidating redhead, turquoise eyes piercing her own as Max held out her hand for Eleven to shake. She walked right past, not giving the ginger a second glance, but still feeling the tingle of those startling eyes watching her exit the room. It would be the first and definitely not the last time those eyes haunted her.

Things returned to normal within weeks, but Max was always there. In the Wheeler’s basement playing D&D, bounding up their school’s steps and racing to the AV club room with the boys hot on her heels, riding her skateboard beside the their bikes, or screaming along with them as they rushed to fill the arcade slots with endless amounts of quarters. she was always there, those otherworldly eyes portraying emotions of jealousy and anger, but something else. Something Eleven couldn’t put a finger on no matter how hard she tried.

Suffice to say though, El was feeling a little left out, and this only made her hatred for the blue-eyed devil grow. 

It had been months since Eleven had returned but she still felt like something was missing. She went on dates with Mike, trying hard to pay attention to his stories and antics but giving in to her thoughts of flaming hair and angry eyes. She attended AV club meetings but she found herself growing frustrated every time Max spoke out or pitched in with a comment of her own. She found herself hating Lucas for asking Max out, not knowing exactly why but deciding it was because she thought people who stole her friends were mouth-breathers. She tried so hard to pretend that things were like they always were but her mind seemed to be conflicted, one half wanting to talk to the Max and unravel her secrets, the other half wanted nothing more than to throw an encyclopedia in her face and call it a day.

Eleven got her chance one rainy winter night, when Max crashed through Mike’s basement door, thirty minutes late to their weekly D&D campaign, but also soaked to the bone with icy rainwater and something else. Blood.

The effect was immediate, Lucas and Dustin (curse their teenage hormones) stood up at the same time and rushed over to her shivering body, throwing questions and quick glances at the girl. Mike and Will practically tripped over themselves as they scoured the basement’s dusty shelves for any type of band-aid or medical appliance.

Eleven just stared. She stared right into those haunting eyes and saw how truly empty they were. She saw them crinkle and wince as the worthless group of boys tried to coax band-aids on her gaping wounds and answers out of her mouth. She saw how rigid the girl stood and how her hands trembled slightly with both cold and fear.

“Stop.” Eleven whispered, then again, much louder. “Stop!” The boys froze, surprise emanating from their expressions. Eleven strode toward the girl, who’s eyes stayed in a staring contest with the floor. 

“Leave us.” El whispered and the boys (who were beyond shook at this point) took of to the kitchen with varying excused of “i’m hungry” or “oh look, a refrigerator”. 

Eleven closed in on Max and raised a hand to trace the purpling bruises and cuts across her cheek. She was surprised when the usually stoic and indifferent girl flinched and squeezed her eyes shut like she had been slapped.

It as then Eleven realized just what she was dealing with.

“Max,” she started, “who did this to you?” she searched the girls face for any type of hint of her emotions. 

“It was-“ Max cut off her sentence with a bone rattling cough as tears began to slide down her tanned cheeks. “It was my brother, Billy..” she finished in an empty voice, her eyes flicking back down to study the pattern on the Wheeler’s old, faded couch. 

Eleven remembered being told about Billy. She remember Lucas telling her how Max would climb in his window some nights, soaked with blood and tears as she told him how Billy had gone off on another drunken tirade and had “accidentally” knocked her over. Eleven remembered Lucas telling her that he thought her stories were bullshit, and that Billy was a child-beating mouth-breather. Eleven also remembered Lucas calling Max’s brother some words that she didn’t know yet, but sounded like they were pretty bad.

Eleven began cleaning off Max’s cuts with a wet towel, trying to ignore the awkward silence between the two girls. Finally, the silence became to much to bear for Eleven and she decided to finally say what was on her mind. 

“I hated you for a long time Max but looking back I don’t exactly know why, I think I was a little jealous.” El announced in a hushed voice. Max’s eyes snapped up and for the first time that night, the spark that was so familiar and unfamiliar glinted bright. Eleven took the girl’s silence as an invitation to keep talking. “But I don’t hate you know, and honestly I hope you don’t hate me because I really want to be your friend.” Eleven rushed out and shyly smiled at the other girl.

Max was silent for a while before she cleared her throat, wincing at the effort, and finally spoke.

“You said you were jealous,” Max’s voice was rough and tired, like she had swallowed a gravel smoothie. “why were you?” she leveled her gaze with Eleven’s, daring the girl to respond.

Eleven stuttered, not expecting such a forward question from the haggard girl. 

“I don’t know honestly, I saw you with Mike but I honestly have been confused about that..” Eleven stopped abruptly when Max’s hand fell on her wrist, sending what felt like jolts of electricity shooting through her veins and sparking in her stomach. 

Max said something else, but El was to focused on her own thoughts to fully comprehend the other girl’s statement. She remembered talking to Nancy about love when she had first returned to Hawkins, she remembered rushing to her and telling her all about Mike and how she thought she truly loved him but she wanted to be sure. Nancy just shook her head and smiled, telling Eleven that you’d know when you’re in love because even so much as touching the other person would send butterflies into your stomach and make the world spin and slow down in the best way possible. 

And then Eleven realized why she was so conflicted about Maxine Mayfield.

She was in love, and boy was she in deep.

Looking back at Max and seeing her red hair, wet and frizzy with rain and her deep blue eyes, bloodshot with tears, everything about her and Max for the past year suddenly fell into place. She had hated the girl from the beginning because she hated the attention Mike gave her, whenever she was out with Mike all she could think about was Max because all she could imagine was Max in Mike’s place. 

Every instance for the past twelve months was suddenly crystal clear to Eleven, and that’s when her tears began to flow. 

“El?” Max’s concerned voice brought Eleven back to Earth. “El are you okay? You were getting all spacey and then you just started to cry..” Max looked at her with pity, confusion, and that same unfamiliar look that Eleven now recognized so clearly.

“Love.” Eleven whispered and when her eyes met Max’s she knew right then and there that the mysterious look in the other girl’s eyes was love, and that gave Eleven hope.

“Uh dude, I honestly am so confused right now.” Max a single eyebrow at Eleven, trying to coax an explanation out of the younger girl. 

“Max,” Eleven tentatively started, “I think I know why I was jealous of you.” Eleven shifted next to the girl as she placed band-aids over freckled skin. Max motioned for her to continue, and sat back in the couch, drawing blankets around her cold body.

“It’s because I was jealous of how Mike was talking to you.” El looked everywhere but Max’s face as she leaned into a bean bag chair near Max’s feet.

Max grinned, “Well of course you were! You guys are dating right?” she smiled and quirked her head to one side.

Eleven sighed as she thought of the best way to announce her feelings. “No Max, I was more jealous of Mike,” she stammered before finally speaking the sentence that she had rehearsed in her mind moments before. “i wanted to be the now giving you that attention because, I th-think that I like you.” Eleven’s face burned as she silently regretted ever starting this goddamned conversation in the first place.

But then all thoughts ceased to exist as Max leaned down and pressed her split lips to Eleven’s. 

Eleven swore she heard fireworks as she tasted the coppery blood and salty tears on Max’s lips, and the jolt of electricity that she had first felt when Max had grabbed her hand had returned and was turning her insides to a gooey mush.

Max pulled away and smirked as she took in El’s astounded expression.

“I don’t think we’re gonna be friends El,” she whispered as a mishchevious spark illuminated her turquoise eyes. Then leaning in she rasped in El’s ear once more.

“I think we’re gonna be something even more.”

**Author's Note:**

> I am going down with this ship but also, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed! Drop a comment or some kudos!


End file.
